To date, many intercommunicating devices and products have been invented for use in for example, the field of human computer interaction or interactive computing. A list of computational devices that intercommunicate is detailed in a fairly comprehensive survey by Schweikardt and Gross (Schweikardt, 2007).
An example of an intercommunicating computational device is the cube-shaped intercommunicating TUI. Cube-shaped intercommunicating TUIs have been used in many applications. For example, they have been used to develop children's toys as elaborated below.
There is convincing evidence that significant changes occur in the brain during the early years of a child and during this period, much of the cognitive, social and emotional development of the child are nurtured through an environment of constructive play and exploration. For example, many aspects of traditional educational blocks are known to facilitate functional and symbolic play in early childhood (Gura, 1992; Wellhouse & Kieff, 2001). The educational benefits of such educational blocks have long been highlighted by educators such as Frederick Froebel (Frobel, 1887), and early kindergarten reformers such as Patty Smith Hill (Fowlkes, 1984) and Maria Montessori with her famous ‘pink tower’ building blocks (Montessori, 1964). In fact, studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between pre-school block play performance and math achievements in US high school and 7th grade (Wolfgang, et al., 2001).
However, the static nature of traditional educational blocks limits the exploratory concepts that can be taught to a child during play. Though the potential for symbolic representation using the traditional educational blocks is powerful, the pedagogical scope of these blocks is often limited. On the other hand, cube-shaped intercommunicating TUIs serve as effective and flexible play-based pedagogies for young children. In providing such embedded technology support for children's concept development through play, it is important to realize that young children (below 8 years) are pre-operational and rely significantly on their visual and auditory perception in acquiring knowledge (Bee, 2000). Moreover, they are active learners who make use of their physical and social experiences to form an understanding of the world around them (Meadows, 1993).
FIGS. 1(a) and (b) show two commercially available toys based on stackable cube-shaped intercommunicating TUIs.
In particular, FIG. 1(a) shows a toy called “Cube World”. In Cube World, each cube-shaped intercommunicating TUI is associated with an animated virtual character and comprises a LCD display on one of its faces. When different TUIs are magnetically and electrically connected, the LCD displays of these TUIs show how their associated animated virtual characters relate to one another.
FIG. 1(b) shows a music-making toy called “CuBees”. CuBees uses a plurality of cube-shaped intercommunicating TUIs with each TUI associated with a sound and constructed to resemble an animal. Depending on how the TUIs are stacked on top of one another or how they are placed alongside one another, different pre-recorded musical audios based on the sounds associated with the TUIs are played. In CuBees, different TUIs are associated with different sounds and thus, children can be taught to appreciate musical concepts such as synchronization and hierarchy through different arrangements of the TUIs.
Cube-shaped intercommunicating TUIs have also been used to provide users with a physical means to specify (or program) relational semantics between basic elements. In particular, different relational semantics may be specified by using different spatial arrangements of the cube-shaped intercommunicating TUIs.
FIGS. 2(a)-(c) show examples of how cube-shaped intercommunicating TUIs may be used for specifying relational semantics between basic elements.
In particular, FIG. 2(a) shows a system invented by the MIT Media Lab called “Siftables” (Merrill 2007). In Siftables, each cube-shaped intercommunicating TUI is associated with a basic element. Visual concepts of the basic elements are depicted in the form of pictures and texts on small colored LCD displays of the TUIs. By changing the spatial relationship of the TUIs, a user is able to define different relationships between the basic elements associated with the TUIs. Once a relationship is defined, corresponding audio-visual responses may be produced.
FIG. 2(b) shows a system invented by Sony's Interaction Lab called “Blockjam” whereas FIG. 2(c) shows a system invented by Bert Schiettecatte called “AudioCubes”. Both Blockjam and AudioCubes provide the same physical spatial programmability function as Siftables but are applied specifically to sound elements such as sound generators, sound operators (e.g. for additive or subtractive operations between sounds) and sound transformers (e.g. for controlling the volume, distortions, modulations, etc).
A limitation of existing cube-shaped intercommunicating TUIs is that it is only possible to determine the spatial relationship between the TUIs along a single plane. Therefore, for the TUIs to perform their functions, the TUIs can only be arranged along a single plane. For example, the TUIs shown in FIGS. 1(a)-(b) can only be stacked along a vertical plane whereas the TUIs shown in FIGS. 2(a)-(c) can only be arranged along a horizontal plane.